‘Mistaken’ identity: Woman seeks release of ‘wrongfully’ detained husband

Sindh High Court (SHC) admits plea of prisoner wrongfully detained in MQM workers' murder case.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) admitted a plea of a prisoner who had allegedly been detained wrongfully in place of the convict in the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers’ murder case.

This strange situation emerged when the prisoner’s wife, Nighat Yasmeen, made an appeal to the judges to look into the dubious detention of her husband on Wednesday.

She informed the judges that the prosecution had named Kala Nazim, an activist of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H), in the case of the murders of rival party members of the MQM. An anti-terrorism court had convicted and sentenced Nazim to life imprisonment, in the year 2004, for attacking a van carrying voters of the MQM to a polling station during the NA-255 by-elections in Landhi in June 2003.

“Karachi Central Jail officials have, however, illegally confined the petitioner’s husband, Nazimuddin Badaruddin instead of Kala Nazim,” her lawyer told the court.

“In the interest of justice, the plea must be heard urgently so that Badaruddin’s release may be ordered,” the lawyer urged. Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, who headed the bench, admitted the urgency application and directed the office to fix hearing for Badaruddin’s appeal for July 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2013.